6
| COMPANIES & MARKETS
The Business Times | Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Raffles Medical’s Q1
profit up 3.7%
Mapletree Industrial
Trust’s DPU
rises 6% for Q4
Revenue climbs 23%, driven by healthcare and hospital services divisions
By Claire Huang
[email protected]
@ClaireHuangBT
Raffles Medical Group
Singapore
LIFTED by strong revenue growth, private healthcare provider Raffles Medical Group’s net profit for the first
quarter rose 3.7 per cent year-on-year
to S$15.5 million.
The profit attributable to equity-holders for the three months ended March 31, 2016, translated to earnings per share of 2.7 Singapore cents,
up from 2.65 cents a year ago. Group
net asset value per share as at March
31 was S$1.0761.
Revenue for the quarter went up
23 per cent to S$116.9 million, driven
by increases in revenues from both
the healthcare and hospital services
divisions.
Healthcare services revenue grew
36.3 per cent while hospital services
revenue climbed 15.2 per cent, mainly attributable to increased patient
load, greater patient medical needs,
higher revenue from more specialist
consultants, as well as the newly acquired International SOS (MC Holdings) Pte Ltd and its subsidiaries. Excluding the contribution from MCH,
group revenue would have grown by
11.6 per cent.
Still, the impact of the strong
Q1
FY16
Q1
FY15
(S$ MILLION)
Revenue
116.9
Net profit
EPS (S¢)
Y-O-Y
%
CHANGE
95
23
15.5
15
3.7
2.7
2.65
group revenue growth was partly offset by the jump in higher staff costs,
inventories and consumables used,
as well as operating lease and other
operating expenses. In particular,
staff costs rose 27.5 per cent to
S$61.6 million due to recruitment of
more specialists and staff in preparation for the opening of new facilities,
as well as higher staff costs at MCH.
Operating profit climbed 6 per
cent to S$18.7 million. Excluding the
performance of MCH, the group’s operating profit would have risen 7.8
per cent.
Raffles Medical on Monday said it
continued to generate strong operating cash flows from various business
units and has maintained a cash position of S$110.6 million as at end
March 2016, after accounting for the
payment of S$10.5 million for investment in Raffles Holland V and the Raf-
fles Hospital extension.
Raffles Holland V, the five-storey
commercial building with three basements, obtained the temporary occupation permit in March and is scheduled to open for business in June
2016, the group said, adding that its
medical centre at the mall would offer family medicine, health screening,
dental and specialist care, among other services.
The extension of its flagship hospital in Bugis is also progressing according to schedule and is expected to
complete by 2017.
Loo Choon Yong, executive chairman of the group, said the MCH clinics have been successfully rebranded
in China and Cambodia.
He said the group would seek to expand its business in more cities in China, and in the next few years, it would
also explore possibilities of setting
up hospitals in Shenzhen and Beijing.
“We are interested in going to the
coastal cities first, then the big metropolis where there’s a strong demand and where the patients can afford to pay for quality international
healthcare,” Dr Loo shared, adding
that the group is targeting the top 20
per cent of population in the Yangtze
River Delta area in China.
When asked about succession
By Lee Meixian
[email protected]
@LeeMeixianBT
Dr Loo says the group would seek
to expand its business in more
cities in China, and explore
possibilities of setting up hospitals
in Shenzhen and Beijing.
planning, he said “Raffles is constantly renewing ourselves” with “a whole
generation of teams of successors”.
“We have not yet got a successor, but
we’re preparing the succession generation to take over the responsibility
and continue the work of the previous generation.”
While there is no clear frontrunner
at the moment, Dr Loo said “we do
have a few people who can easily step
into my shoes”. He added that there
has to be a strong team in place before he “can ride off into the sunset”.
The stock closed down four Singapore cents at S$4.55 on Monday, after
the pre-market results announcement.
Source: The Business Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction.
Sunningdale Q1 profit hit by forex loss
By Jacquelyn Cheok
[email protected]
@JacCheokBT
Singapore
PROPELLED by organic growth, Sunningdale Tech achieved a 4.4 per cent
year-on-year rise in first-quarter revenue but a foreign exchange loss – compared with a foreign exchange gain a
year earlier – resulted in a near 50 per
cent fall in earnings.
The mainboard-listed manufacturer of precision plastic components on
Monday posted a net profit of S$3.58
million for the three months ended
March 31, 2016, down 49.3 per cent
from S$7.05 million for the previous
corresponding quarter. Adjusted for
forex loss of S$3.24 million for Q1
2016 and forex gain of S$1.12 million
for Q1 2015, profit would have been
S$6.82 million, up 14.8 per cent from
S$5.94 million, said Sunningdale.
“We were affected by the foreign
exchange market, particularly with
the weakening of the US dollar in
1Q16,” said Sunningdale. “The group
tries to achieve a natural hedge in its
operations.”
Revenue rose from S$154.5 million to S$161.3 million, boosted by
better performance in the automotive
and mould fabrication segments, and
partially offset by declines in the consumer and IT and healthcare segments. The increase in revenue from
the automotive segment was due to
an increase in orders from existing
and new projects, while its mould fabrication segment saw more orders
billed and recognised as each project
progressed. Sunningdale attributed
the decrease in revenue in its consum-
Sunningdale Tech
Q1
FY16
Q1
FY15
(S$ MILLION)
Revenue
161.25 154.50
Y-O-Y
%
CHANGE
4.4
Net profit
3.58
7.05 (49.3)
EPS (S¢)
1.92
3.80
er and IT and healthcare segments to
a “slowdown in orders”.
Earnings per share fell from 3.80
Singapore cents a year ago to 1.92 Singapore cents for Q1 2016. No dividend has been declared.
Khoo Boo Hor, chief executive and
executive director of Sunningdale
Tech, said: “Despite the adverse impact of foreign exchange, we managed to improve our gross profit mar-
China Minzhong Q3 profit halves to 49.1m yuan
By Andrea Soh
[email protected]
@AndreaSohBT
Singapore
China Minzhong Food Corporation’s
net profit was halved in the third quarter, as a poorly-performing beverage
division and exchange losses continued to dog the company.
The integrated vegetable
processor’s net profit tumbled 55 per
cent from a year ago to 49.1 million
yuan (S$10.21 million) for the three
months ended March 31.
This translates to 0.07 yuan in
earnings per share, down from 0.16
yuan a year ago.
Revenue slipped 7 per cent to
451.4 million yuan, as sales fell
across all its divisions, with the beverage business performing particularly
badly. Sales volume for the division,
which has been underperforming in
the past few quarters, dropped 40 per
cent to 12.7 million units, due to a
slowdown in the economy and a reduction in advertising and promotion
as the group embarked on a review of
the business segment.
An increase in other expenses and
finance costs further eroded the bottomline.
Other expenses surged from 2.2
million yuan to 21.4 million yuan due
to an exchange loss of 21.3 million
yuan, said the firm.
Finance costs also grew 72 per
cent to 52.3 million yuan on the back
of increased borrowings.
Looking ahead, China Minzhong
gave the same commentary as it had
for the past few quarters: that the cultivation and processed business segments will continue to face challenges ahead in view of the shortage of rural labour for cultivation activities
and rising costs, which come against
a backdrop of rising urbanisation and
declining rural labour in China.
But the agriculture industry continues to be “strongly supported and favoured” by the Chinese government,
it reiterated.
The firm also a month ago provided an update on the proposed acquisition of a 52.94 per cent stake in the
firm by China Minzhong Holdings,
from PT Indofood Sukses Makmur.
While China Minzhong Holdings
has progressed in discussions with
potential financiers on the funding ar-
gin (from 13.4 in Q1 2015 to 13.6 per
cent in Q1 2016).”
He added that Sunningdale Tech’s
management team remains committed to enhancing operational efficiencies by improving capacity utilisation
rates of its manufacturing facilities.
“As such, we have also made the strategic decision of conducting a restructuring exercise at our plant in Southern China located at Zhongshan.”
In March, a CIMB report said that
Sunningdale Tech could be an attractive takeover target because of its global reach and market share, adding
that plastic injection-moulding peer
Chosen Holdings and metal-stamping specialist Interplex Holdings had
both received takeover offers from
private equity funds in 2015.
On Monday, Sunningdale Tech
shares slipped four Singapore cents
to close at S$1.19.
China Minzhong
Q3
FY16
Q3
FY15
(MILLION YUAN )
Revenue
Y-O-Y
%
CHANGE
451.4
485.8
(7.1)
Net profit
49.1
108
(54.6)
EPS (yuan)
0.07
0.16
rangement for the deal first announced in end-2014, the terms, including a detailed due diligence of
the company by the financiers, are
yet to be finalised.
Both parties said that they will continue to discuss and work towards finalising a definitive sale and purchase agreement.
Shares in the counter rose 1.6 per
cent, or 1.5 cents, to 95 Singapore
cents on Monday, before the results
announcement.
OCBC launches first biometric
business banking mobile app
By Angela Tan
[email protected]
Singapore
OCBC Bank launched on Monday a
new and more convenient business
mobile banking application with biometric authentication, allowing customers to access accounts using fingerprint without the need to log in using user ID and password.
The OCBC Business Mobile Banking application will allow Singapore-registered users of OCBC’s business Internet banking portal,
Velocity@ocbc, to access their account balances and transactional activities using fingerprint recognition.
More than 120,000 customers are
expected to benefit from this application “anytime and anywhere, even
when they are overseas”. The new application features OCBC OneTouch
which leverages Apple’s Touch ID
technology.
OCBC, which boasts being the first
bank here to offer a business banking
mobile application that uses biometric authentication, said the application was developed after studies have
shown a 30 per cent increase in the
number of calls from customers enquiring about their business account
information in the last three years.
“The need to know their account
balances and status of incoming and
outgoing funds are clearly critical for
business owners to effectively manage their day-to-day operations. Understanding this need, we developed
this app to provide control, assurance and accessibility to our customers, which fits their business requirements as well,” said Gregory Trotter,
head of cash management, global
transaction banking, at OCBC Bank.
According to the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA),
mobile data usage in Singapore has
doubled over a short span of just over
three years, from a monthly average
of 5.33 petabytes in the second quarter of 2012 to 10.68 petabytes in the
fourth quarter of 2015.
OCBC OneTouch is available on
Touch ID enabled Apple iPhones,
such as iPhone 5s and newer models
that run on at least iOS 8 operating
system (or later versions).
More than 120,000 customers are expected to benefit from this
application “anytime and anywhere, even when they are overseas”.
To get started, customers need to
download the OCBC Business Mobile
Banking app from the Apple App
Store. They will need to perform a
one-time activation by keying in their
Velocity@ocbc organisation ID, user
ID and password, followed by a
one-time password (OTP) sent via
SMS or security token.
Thereafter, within the app, cus-
tomers need only to place their finger
on the home button to view their account balances and transactional activities.
The OCBC Business Mobile Banking app is also available for Android
phone users on Google Play. Customers using Android phones will need to
perform a two-factor authentication
(2FA) using their security token or
SMS-OTP to log in.
Mapletree Ind Trust
Singapore
MAPLETREE Industrial Trust (MIT) on
Monday posted a 6 per cent increase
to its distribution per unit to 2.81 Singapore cents for its fourth quarter
ended March 31, 2016. This was up
from 2.65 cents a year ago.
Gross revenue rose 5.8 per cent to
to S$84 million, boosted by higher
rental rates across its property segments, as well as contribution from
the build-to-suit project for Equinix
Singapore at 26A Ayer Rajah Crescent. Net property income rose 7.4
per cent to S$62 million.
Distributable income was S$50.4
million, 7.8 per cent higher than a
year ago, despite a 59 per cent drop in
net fair value gain on investment
properties and investment properties
under development to S$82 million,
from S$197.4 million a year ago.
This brings its full-year DPU to
11.15 cents, 6.9 per cent higher than
a year ago. Full-year gross revenue
was also 5.6 per cent higher at
S$331.6 million, while net property income rose 7.2 per cent to S$245.1 million.
CEO of the Reit manager Tham
Kuo Wei said: “Despite the challenging market conditions, MIT continued
to deliver healthy returns in FY2016.”
The results was largely driven by
contribution from the completed
build-to-suit data centre for Equinix,
and resilient performance from the
rest of its portfolio.
The trust is also growing its
hi-tech buildings segment, currently
redeveloping its Telok Blangah cluster and getting started on the refurbishments at its Kallang Basin 4 cluster. The trust owns 84 properties, including flatted factories, hi-tech build-
Q4
FY16
Q4
FY15
(S$ MILLION)
Y-O-Y
%
CHNG
Gross revenue
84.0
79.4
5.8
Net property
income
62.0
57.8
7.4
Distributable
income
50.4
46.7
7.8
DPU (S¢)
2.81
2.65
ings, business parks, ramp-up buildings and light industrial buildings.
The average portfolio occupancy
for Q4 fell marginally to 94.6 per cent
from 94.7 per cent in Q3.
The average portfolio passing rent
rose slightly to S$1.90 per square foot
(psf) per month, from S$1.89 psf per
month in Q3, driven by positive rental revisions for renewals, and higher
rental rates for new leases, it said.
It acknowledged that the muted
global economic outlook and large
supply of industrial space in Singapore will make leasing more challenging ahead, pressurising rentals and
occupancy rates.
This is aggravated by Singapore’s
ongoing economic restructuring,
which will raise the costs of its outsourced service contracts – for cleaners and security guards, for example.
The trust will manage these by focusing on maintaining occupancy levels, especially for leases expiring in
FY2017, and by shifting to performance-based contracts where feasible
to manage costs, it said.
Units of the trust lost half a cent,
or 0.3 per cent, to finish at S$1.64 on
the stock market. The closure of MIT’s
transfer books and register of
unitholders will be on May 4; distributions will be paid on May 30.
SGX wooing China listings in
tie-up with key Chinese bank
By Melissa Tan
[email protected]
@MelissaTanBT
Singapore
MORE S-chips may land on Singapore
shores soon. The Singapore Exchange
(SGX) has teamed up with a major Chinese bank in a bid to get more Chinese companies to tap capital markets here, including listing on the local bourse and issuing offshore renminbi bonds.
The bourse inked a memorandum
of understanding (MOU) on Monday
with China Construction Bank (CCB),
under which the two will “work closely on bringing Chinese companies to
list in Singapore”, it said in a filing after the market closed.
The two parties will also “highlight
opportunities” for Chinese companies to issue offshore renminbi
bonds, carry out mergers and acquisitions, set up cross-border asset management services and engage in other
capital market activities here, the SGX
said.
It added that CCB would explore
derivatives trading, bond trading and
other business activities in Singapore, and noted that there are 120 Chinese companies and 103 renminbi
bonds listed on the exchange.
The two parties signed the MOU at
a “One Belt, One Road” Infrastructure
& Capital Market Financial Services Forum on Monday. SGX chief executive
officer Loh Boon Chye noted in a
speech at the signing that CCB was
one of SGX’s accredited issuer managers for listings on the exchange and
was the only Chinese commercial
bank accredited by SGX.
It was a busy Monday for CCB,
which separately inked another MOU
with trade agency IE Singapore for the
bank to provide S$30 billion of financing services to support Singapore and
China companies in “One Belt, One
Road” (OBOR) infrastructure projects.
That deal marked the bank’s first
MOU with a South-east Asian country,
IE and CCB said in a joint press release on Monday.
China’s OBOR strategy, first mooted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in
2013, involves building a trade and infrastructure network linking Asia to
Europe and Africa along ancient Silk
Road routes.
IE and CCB said that the bank
would also explore setting up a centre
in Singapore to provide project financing and related professional services
required in OBOR basic infrastructure
investments, which they added
would be the “first of its kind for CCB
outside China”.
The guest of honour at the forum
was Minister in the Prime Minister’s
Office Chan Chun Sing, who said in a
speech that foreign direct investment
going into China was “increasingly being overtaken” by overseas direct investments (ODI) going out of China.
“To invest in projects and many
South-east Asian infrastructure
projects, this is a significant shift as it
represents the start of a new engine
growth for China . . . If we (Singapore
agencies) can work as a team to provide ancillary services then I can say
that chances are the investment from
China to Singapore will be stickier
than the rest,” he said.
The forum was jointly organised
by CCB and IE Singapore, and supported by SGX.
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